The Next Step: Treatment
Start with a professional you trust: a pediatrician, adolescent psychiatrist/psychologist, or school counselor. Then, try not to fixate on labels.
Dr. David Clark, a chiropractic neurologist in Dallas, feels that the labels usually placed on LD kids aren’t specific enough. There are many different types of reading issues, just as there are different types of ADD, ADHD, and dyslexia (see Common Learning Differences). There is no one answer that works for every child. Dr. Clark's exams and treatments involve different types of auditory and visual stimulation for the right and left brain.
Some kids with LDs have visual problems. Dr. Harold Friedman, chief of Vision Therapy and Rehabilitation Services at SUNY College of Optometry in New York City, explains that many visual problems have nothing to do with eyesight and everything to do with brain connections. An experienced optometrist can evaluate a child using accepted standardized testing. If it is discovered that their learning difficulty relates to a visual processing dysfunction, an individual therapy program, using a computer, is designed to help the child compensate for the dysfunction.
Less mainstream options are also worth looking into: behavior modification therapy, chiropractic neurology, the interactive metronome, homeopathic remedies, nutritional changes, biofeedback, and neurofeedback.
With ADD or ADHD, there is always a question as to whether medication is advisable. This is a very controversial issue. While Green agrees that some kids are medicated who don’t need to be, he thinks there are other children who would do much better if they were prescribed Ritalin, Concerta, Adderall, or Strattera. When LDs or attention disorders are not properly diagnosed and treated, says Green, it can begin to erode the teen’s self-esteem.
The Self-Esteem Battle
Determining exactly what is going on with your teen—and learning how to work with it—is key. If you think your teen is lazy, you will treat her a certain way. But if you think she has a visual processing impairment, your patience and understanding may be greatly extended, as will your child’s.
Margaret K. of Hopewell, N.J., knows these issues well. Her daughter, Rebecca, was classified as special ed in elementary school. Rebecca had a decoding problem, meaning she couldn’t translate a word from print to speech, and she couldn’t read at grade level. Rebecca got a little quieter in the 8th grade, and started hanging out with different kids. In high school, she still hangs out with people who aren’t a challenge to her academically and isn’t too involved in extracurricular activities at school.
But she’s very involved in her church and baking is her forte. Even though she wrote “collage” in her notes the day she went to the college fair at her high school, she plans to go. She’s considering Johnson & Wales, a culinary university that offers a four-year degree and has classes for LD students.
Rebecca, who tests as highly intelligent, has always considered herself “different,” but over the years, she’s grown into her strengths and, with her parents’ help, tries not to emphasize her limitations.
Judy Davis, Ogden 12/03/08
There is also a possibility of diabetes. My daughter is 15 and did very well until sixth grade. At this point her teacher quit asking for assignments to be turned in. She felt the kids needed to learn how to do this for themselves. In many cases this is true. However, she was diagnosed with hypoglycemia this October. Research taught me that the fact that she can't remember things for more than five minutes is a HUGE! symptom of low blood sugar. The brain isn't getting the sugar it needs to function properly. She also cries for no reason and walks into walls. A new study called the dawn mind project is showing that it isn't just low blood sugar that can affect the brain. All diabetes can. It is difficult to get a Teacher to accept this. They don't understand enough about it. Don''t worry, I am teaching them.
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